Category: Voyages

Dear F&F, September 24th 2011 (Eastern Hemisphere)

End of Day one: 175 nm 312 mile to Pentecost Island Passage, 380 miles to Luganville, Espiritu Santo Island – Vanuatu 16 deg 41 min S 174 deg 21 min E

A lovely first days sail, we put the spinnaker up mid day today, winds are SSE at 12-18 knots. 5 foot (1.5 meter) seas from the SSE. Air is 79 deg F (26.1 C) As we are headed almost due west, we\’re getting a nice push.

Calm, comfortable and really nice so far. As usual, on these longer passages, Anja and I don\’t see much of each other. She is currently napping \”off watch\” and I\’m minding \”The House\”, listening to music and watching this incredibly gorgeous day progress.

I\’ll check in with the Pacific Seafarer\’s Net (via amateur radio) at 0330 GMT. This is a \”safety at sea\” net which monitors voluntarily any boats who wish to participate. I\’ve done so ever since we left California.

Of note, a minor fridge issue which I know I\’ll be able to resolve in one of our next ports.

I just caught the \”ship\’s log\” up to date and it should be posted on the home page at: www.svbeachhouse.com

Feel free to drop a note anytime! Scott with sleeping Anja!

Dear F&F, September 21st – 23rd, 2011 (Eastern Hemisphere)

We went up to check and see if the nice dive sites off the end of Yasawairara were dive able, but the weather was just too strong. So instead, we set sail for the 12 miles back to Nanuya-Sewa. We had a brilliant ride in fantastic wind and calm seas.

Once we were anchored, Joe and Anja went on a dive to \”The Cabbage Patch\” which has large lettuce leaf shaped hard corals; even green in color.

I went into \”get the boat ready to sail off\” mode. Topped the fuel from our jerry cans, put stuff away, checked the weather, etc.

The next day, we were able to go with a local dive boat and did what would be our final dive in Fiji; \”Tom\’s Thumb\”. A lovely site which we did with a couple from Australia staying at a local resort. Nice lion fish, hard and soft corals, lots of large anemone\’s and I found a tiny Imperial Shrimp living in an anemone. A mantis shrimp was scene by our Aussie friends, but I didn\’t get to see it, darn! These look like a brightly crazy quilted and colored \”mini lobster\”. Be careful though, they can cut your finger off if you try to handle them!

Joe left with hugs and kisses on the Ferry and Anja and I went into super ready mode. Anja made some easy prepared ready to heat meals for the expected 4 day trip to Luganville on Espiritu Santo Island in Vanuatu. We would begin the 600 mile trip in the morning.

Upped anchor at 0800 local time and we\’re off!….. Watch for blogs posted remotely from our trip and of course I update our position while en-route.

KIT, Scott and Anja en-route to Vanuatu! Farewell Fiji, you\’ve been great.

Dear F&F, September 18th – 20th, 2011

We headed up the coast to Yasawa Island\’s Narara Beach. The anchorage was perfect. The water a calm cobalt blue to turquoise in color. We dove \”Paradise Point\” and the reef off Vawa Island. Paradise Point is also a surf spot, but was calm today and offered a great dive in both hard and soft corals.

New friend Gayle Van Leer even emailed me a Google Earth map shot of exactly where we were anchored and the dive spots. Thank you Gayle!

The beach here was gorgeous too and Joe said \”you ain\’t seen nothin\’ yet\”! The next day we traveled the 8 miles up to the most northerly of the main Yasawa group; Yasawairara Island. Yasawa in Fijian means, \”The Islands Over there\”. Yasawairara basically means, \”The end of the islands over there\”.

So we again had a beautiful anchorage and went ashore to do \”sevusevu\”. After which we got a lesson from Joe in all things coconut (photos not yet posted).

We had a lovely walk on \”8 month beach\” and saw a beautiful group of young kids coming from school. (photos soon!)

8 month beach is so called because of the sands. They are so fine (I kept some!), that the locals say if you get it in your hair (not my problem!…ha), it takes 8 months to get it all out. This was indeed the finest sand I\’ve ever felt. Silk comes to mind!

From here, we upped anchor and headed to Champaign Beach….. It was here the beach scenes from the movie \”Contact\” with Jody Foster were filmed. A stunning 1/2 mile of sand, one private home back in the trees and the anchorage all to ourselves. We did the view hike and walked the beach. It was quite melancholic for me as I\’m sure you can understand. This entire area was a \”Cindy experience\”. I needed some alone time, hiked up to the top of the hill and took some photos. (Posting soon!) The sands here were nearly as magical as those at 8 month beach. The experience of the water, the anchorage, the isolation and the beauty were priceless….

Tomorrow, we\’d be off back to Nanuya-Sewa for a last attempt at some dives and farewell to Joe before heading on to Vanuatu.

See Photo Gallery: 09-Western Fiji & Yasawa Group

Scott with Anja and Joe

Dear F&F, September 16th – 17th, 2011

Joe arrived on the noon Ferry from Denarau and we immediately upped anchor and headed to Nanuya-Sewa Island. This is a lovely spot (photos not yet posted) and we anchored next to Claudia and Joerg of s/v \”Dreamtime\”.

Joe, Anja and I immediately went for a dive at \”Tavarua Break\” which is also a nice right hand surf spot. The dive was nice and we were invited ashore by some locals who were putting on a \”lovo\” or earth oven feast. We all got together, had some wicked Kava and a great time.

The wind was blowing the next day, so we decided to head to Sawa-I-Lau island and en route stop and do a dive on the open ocean pinnacle, \”The Maze\”. The Maze is a series of underwater swim through\’s and caverns. The soft and hard corals were really in good shape. The most notable thing to us is that there are rarely \”big fish\” and this site was no exception. Fiji, like many of the Pacific Island nations is over fishing to the point of an ecological collapse. At least the humpbacks are coming back!

From The Maze, it was a short motor into the anchorage at Sawa-I-Lau. We again saw Mega Yacht \”TV\” here with lots of guests. The big attraction is the limestone caverns and underwater pools. Anja, Joe and I did part of the hike till it got to the point I thought I was entering Carlsbad Caverns. The knee high MUCK was the remembrance of the day!

After this, Joe and Anja swam in the pools, I chilled out. It was here in 1983 that my first wife Gaye and I traveled through these islands on a \”Blue Lagoon Cruise\”. We had done the swim way back then too.

Anja and Joe went to do \”sevusevu\” at the local village which gave us permission to anchor and dive off the local islands. (Photos not yet posted).

The next day we would head further up the coast in search of protected dive sites; the wind was still howling.

Stay tuned, Scott with Anja and Joe!